Finishing your plates.

Numbers!!

One of the things I hate about obesity are statistics. It's practically impossible to put a figure on how many people are obese, as the definition and measurement techniques are not standardized.

The first study that really cuts to the heart of the matters comes from Australia. Their childhood obesity rates have been steadily rising, but they've found that the wrong criteria was applied.
It turns out that the study didn't take into account the level of BMI in children taller for their age. Makes sense, right? Taller kids will be larger kids, which means their BMI threshhold will be higher.


A taller child is biased towards being classified as being fatter than he or she really is and a shorter child the reverse. Now if that sort of thing is happening its going to affect our statistics so we have to go back to the drawing board and find a new measure that was not biased towards height

The second study shows the fallacy of obesity statistics when you rely on self reported statistics. The ASIAN is trumpeting their obestity statistics. It turns out they have dropped from 12.7% in 2007 to 10.9% in 2010. Althought it doesn't look large, it's 15%.

Remember, these are self reported statistics with no control nor any proper method of ensuring the same people responded. Heck, you might have gotten the 15% who are thinner.

IT GOES WITH THE POUND~

"the scarcity of supermarkets in inner-city communities has serious consequences. After shelter, food is the second highest consumer expenditure. And because 25% of retail demand in inner cities is unmet, according to a 1998 study by the Boston Consulting Group, black neighborhoods lose billions of dollars at a faster rate than other communities. In addition, residents who choose to shop within the community spend their dollars inefficiently."

I would go along with this premise. If a business owner doesn't want to open a store in a certain location they might try to squeeze as much money as possible from it.
The part of me that took the biggest exception to the statement is the farmer's markets. Seriously. Why farmer's markets? Some of the benefits:

A) Cheaper prices on produce
B) Most likely locally produced
C) Produce not usually available

But does this help eliminate obesity? Not really. The way to beat obesity is to limit the intake of food.
The number one focus should be on creating more resourceful grocery stores in urban areas.

YOUR CHOICE!!

As Japan rapidly industrialized after the WWII, use of pesticides and chemical fertilizer for farming increased dramatically. Even though these new chemicals seemed like a great invention for easing the hard work of farming and increasing the produce, farmers started feeling bad effects on their body. Hard-to-decompose Chemicals in nature that were released into the open field found their way to the river, air, soil and in the body of livestock, then finally in the human body . It was when unusually high level of pesticides residues was found in vegetables that consumers took their action. This film is about the consumers 'searching for safe food, and farmers' struggles to produce food without using chemicals as well as the government's implementation of regulations moved by the civil voice.

ARE WE GOING TO REPEAT THE SAME MISTAKE LIKE THEM?

A little understanding of what food you give to your plants

Each of these numbers represents the percentages of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium found in container. For instance, a label may indicate of "24-6-6." Translated, this means that nitrogen makes up 24 percent of the material in the container; phosphorous makes up 6 percent and potassium is 6 percent. That comes to 36 percent. The remaining 64 percent is inert matter.

These three elements are indicated by their symbols from the Periodic Table of Elements (N for nitrogen, P for phosphorous and K for potassium). Often labels will indicate "NPK" as well.

NItrogen, phosphorous and potassiumare called "primary macronutrients," because they are the most important of all plant nutrients.

Plants require a number of macronutrients. In addition to N,P,and K, plants also need calcium, magnesium and sulfur. Plants also need smaller amounts micronutrients: aluminum,arsenic, boron, cadmium, chlorine, copper, iron, lead, manganese, sodium, zinc and several others as well. Some fertilizers may also include traces of these, but they must be indicated separately on the label.

What Does Fertilizer Do

There’s a simple rhyme that makes it easy to remember the three nutrients: “up, down, all around.”

• Up: Nitrogen promotes growth of the top of the plant (that part of the plant which is above the ground).
• Down: Phosphorous promotes good, healthy roots.
• All around: Potassium benefits the entire plant.

Organic vs. Chemical Fertilizers

Organic fertilizers introduce nutrients into the soil. At the same time, they help build soil structure. Good organic soils contain organisms like microbes and earthworms. It is loose with lots or air flowing through it. Good soil promotes healthy roots.

In fact, that’s what organic gardening is about – building a healthy soil.

Organic fertilizers are products of plants and animals and from powdered rock. Microbes living in the soil break down these materials so plants can absorb them. This process takes time, a true advantage. Because it works so slowly, it stays in the soil and provides a steady supply of nutrients for a long time.

Chemical Fertilizers

Chemical fertilizers work very quickly, a contrast to the slow release element of organic fertilizers. In just a few days, they make a scrubby-looking plant look majestic. However, this kind of growth actually weakens the plant. It creates a great deal of top growth very quickly. Root growth, however, takes place much slower. This lag time creates real problems for healthy growth processes. Additionally, chemical fertilizers, if over-applied, can accumulate into toxic salt concentrations.

The high mineral salt content of chemical fertilizers actually kills beneficial organisms that live in the soil. These organisms are the ones, which help decompose minerals and organic matter and help create good soil. With the organisms gone, the soil becomes lifeless. It packs down, forcing air out, and making it impossible for water to filtrate down into the soil. The outcome is to use more and more chemical fertilize

From small beginning comes to a great ends

Why would anyone want to start a worm farm? Growing worms - what's up with that? What do you do with a bunch of worms? Well, if you speak to a fisherman, you might get some good answers to that last question, but most worm farms are actually started not to make more worms, but in order to get the product that the worms produce when fed organic material similar to that used in a compost pile. This final product is called castings, and while it's technically worm excrement, it's also a great fertilizer or amendment for garden soil or potted plants. The state of California is actually encouraging employees of both public and private sector businesses to "keep worms in your office". At the CA EPA offices in Sacremento, there's a waiting list for the sixty worm farm bins that are available.

The technical term for using worms to process compost and create castings is 'vermicomposting', and the finished product is called vermicompost or vermicast. To get high quality castings from an earthworm farm, it's necessary to start with the proper type of worms. Going out to your garden and digging up whatever you find living there may not be the way to go. There are certain types of worms that adapt well to living in a container and processing organic waste. The wrong type of worm may burrow down while not processing as much of the food into castings, so if you're just starting out, you'd probably want to buy your worms from an experienced vermicomposting supplier. After you get some experience, you may be able to identify your local worms and whether or not they'd be good candidates for populating a farm.

There are a number of different ways to build a worm farm. It's possible to situate it directly on the ground. You can also dig a trench and put the materials in there. But most people use a container or bin of some sort, sometimes stacking two or even more on top of each other.


To start the farm in a container, begin by placing a couple of sheets of shredded newspaper or cardboard inside to serve as bedding, followed by a few handfuls of soil. Moisten lightly with water. Add some organic waste for food, and then the worms. Cover with something that will keep out the light while retaining moisture, such as burlap or newspaper. Try and resist the urge to look at the worms for a couple of weeks. Then take off the cover and add some more food. Continue to do this as the worms multiply. If it starts to smell bad, you may be supplying the worms with more food than they can process. Also, be sure not to add any animal products or waste, milk products, or oils, as they can all smell or attract
pests.

When the bin is about half full, it's probably a good time to harvest the castings. There are a number of ways to do this. Many people just push everything to one side, being sure to pull out any large non decomposed food. They then add the bedding, dirt, and food to the empty side, and wait a couple of weeks for the worms to move over to the new side, leaving just good vermicompost which they can then remove and use in the garden.

Other people like to dump everything out and separate the contents into piles, leaving them uncovered. The worms move down to get away from the light, and the top layer can be removed. Keep repeating till you've harvested all the castings, then start the farm over with the worms. Another method is to use numerous bins stacked up, starting the farm in the top bin, and when it is ready for harvesting, moving the top bin down and putting a different one on the top while adding all the materials and food. The worms simply migrate to the top bin, leaving only castings in the lower one.